There's a thread running through today's news broadcasting -- that to one extent or another, the big three of Canadian TV news are captives of the teleprompters which sits in front of their cameras and shows them the words they're paid a lot of money to read at us. Here's a summer report card of how they're doing.

If there's one rule every one of the scores of broadcast journalists I've ever coached -- in Canada or overseas -- agrees with (at least in theory) it's this: the best broadcaster talks to one person, and only one person, at a time. And shares information with that person. Here some ideas on anchoring.

Kimberly Gale used to live near the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant that part-melted down a year ago. She just talks to the camera, sometimes her words covered with quake footage. No script. Just Gale. And somehow, because she's thinking aloud and not merely reading, her report captures a little of the human meaning of the tragedy.